Country diary + Plants | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/country-diary+science/plants
Indexen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Sun, 02 Aug 2015 21:12:34 GMT2015-08-02T21:12:34Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
A good year for a rare parasitehttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/18/greater-broomrape-parasite-new-forest
<p><strong>New Forest</strong> Aptly named, greater broomrape gains all its nourishment from broom or gorse</p><p>The grapevine is important. We were about to leave for Ireland when the call came in. “The plant you told us about in your talk is showing through.” No time to check it out before we departed, but we did go to look soon after our return. Nationally scarce and in decline, greater broomrape is uncommon throughout Hampshire. The one colony in the New Forest where it has some strength is possibly the largest in Britain.</p><p>In the weeks we have been away, most of the plants have flowered, gone over, and stand as tan-brown sentinels among gorse bushes. A few are in more open ground along root runs. A few still hold their florets with down-turned yellowish-pink lips tinged with purple, and a brightly coloured stigma that looks like two close-set yellow eyes peering out from under the upper hood. Some plants are no more than 10cm tall, others reach nearly a metre.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/18/greater-broomrape-parasite-new-forest">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentPlantsNew ForestRural affairsUK newsBiologyScienceSat, 18 Jul 2015 04:30:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/18/greater-broomrape-parasite-new-forestPhotograph: Graham LongGreater broomrape growing in the New Forest.Photograph: Graham LongGreater broomrape growing in the New Forest.Graham Long2015-07-18T04:30:02ZWithered charm of the bird’s nest orchidhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/16/country-diary-gates-durham-orchids-fungi-trees
<strong>Weardale, County Durham:</strong> With no leaves or chlorophyll the plant’s survival depends upon a complex ménage à trois<p>It is 15 years since we last discovered a <a href="http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/birds-nest-orchid" title="">bird’s-nest orchid</a>. It was hidden among dog’s mercury in an old hazel coppice. The withered brown flower spike was well past its best but its botanical charisma more than compensated for a lack of beauty.</p><p>This is an orchid that challenges preconceptions of how a plant can be defined. With no leaves and no chlorophyll, its survival depends on a single species of fungus that also forms a symbiotic association with nearby trees. The trees supply the fungus with sugars and extract minerals from it.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/16/country-diary-gates-durham-orchids-fungi-trees">Continue reading...</a>FungiEnvironmentPlantsBiologyRural affairsThu, 16 Jul 2015 04:29:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/16/country-diary-gates-durham-orchids-fungi-treesPhotograph: Phil GatesBird's nest orchid, Neottia nidus-avis, among wild flowers in Weardale.
Photograph: Phil GatesPhotograph: Phil GatesBird's nest orchid, Neottia nidus-avis, among wild flowers in Weardale.
Photograph: Phil GatesPhil Gates2015-07-16T04:29:00ZGranite tors wear summer dress of sedges, sphagnum and cotton grasshttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/15/country-diary-bodmin-tors-king-arthurs-hall-granite-stones-st-breward
<strong>St Breward, Bodmin Moor:</strong> Skylarks sing above this expanse where drifts of flowering grasses mix with stony outcrops and turf sprinkled with tormentil<p>Cloud shadows sweep across the green of Treswallock Downs, in Cornwall, and the adjoining moorland. Skylarks sing above this expanse of open grazing where drifts of flowering grasses, sedges and rushes mix with granite outcrops, remains of ancient settlements, and turf sprinkled with tormentil.</p><p>From the top of Alex Tor the vista extends as far as Pentire Head on the north coast, west to the Cornish alps of St Austell and towards old china clay tips at nearby Stannon, now grassed over.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/15/country-diary-bodmin-tors-king-arthurs-hall-granite-stones-st-breward">Continue reading...</a>CornwallPlantsArchaeologyBiologyEnvironmentRural affairsWed, 15 Jul 2015 04:30:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/15/country-diary-bodmin-tors-king-arthurs-hall-granite-stones-st-brewardPhotograph: Helen Hotson/AlamyKing Arthur's Hall, on Bodmin Moor, bordered by standing stones, may be a Neolithic monument. Photograph: Helen Hotson/AlamyPhotograph: Helen Hotson/AlamyKing Arthur's Hall, on Bodmin Moor, bordered by standing stones, may be a Neolithic monument. Photograph: Helen Hotson/AlamyVirginia Spiers2015-07-15T04:30:07ZInvading reeds spread in all directions: Country diary 100 years agohttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/12/country-diary-invading-reeds-1915
<p>Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 16 July 1915</p><p>The tall reeds which fringe the mere have spread in both directions. Landward they invaded the ground occupied by willows and elders, and have even pushed their blades through the bramble tangle. In the deep water they are reaching up amongst the floating lily leaves, where the white flowers rest on the rippling water and the yellow lilies reach a little higher, as if anxious to keep their petals dry. Amongst the inner reeds, growing from marshy ground but not actually with roots submerged, two handsome plants, in no ways related though sharing a common name, are now fully out; the dense whorls and spikes of the purple loosestrife stand side by side with the more widespread heads of the yellow loosestrife. In the centre of the reed-bed the great spearworts, finest of all the buttercups, are appearing, but we must wait a week or two before they are at their best.</p><p>If most of the abundant blossom turns to fruit the blackberry season will be an excellent one, and already the wild raspberries are full of sweeter, larger berries than we have seen for years; in one wood the straggling canes, covered with delicious fruit, grow amongst and wave over the loosestrifes and reeds.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/12/country-diary-invading-reeds-1915">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentRural affairsPlantsSun, 12 Jul 2015 21:30:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/12/country-diary-invading-reeds-1915Photograph: The GuardianThe Manchester Guardian, 16 July 1915.Photograph: The GuardianThe Manchester Guardian, 16 July 1915.Photograph: Holmes Garden Photos /AlamyWicken Fen, Cambridgeshire.Photograph: Holmes Garden Photos /AlamyWicken Fen, Cambridgeshire.Thomas Coward2015-07-12T21:30:04ZOde to a Raven has a different ringhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/08/country-diary-keats-rose-raven
<p><strong>Wenlock Edge:</strong> Thoughts of Keats follow from a promiscuous rose – but it’s a different, madder bird that attends it, not the poet’s nightingale<br></p><p>The wild rose flowers over a chain-link fence at the edge of the quarry. In a Sleeping Beauty moment, this tangle of thorns has been transformed into the sweetest rose: sweet briar.</p><p>Because of their promiscuity, wild roses can be hard to identify accurately, but this one, with its apple-scented leaves and classic open, yellow-centred, pink-edged flower has more sweet briar than dog-rose about it. It is the rose <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/23/john-keats-autumnal-idealist-social-commentator">Keats</a> knew as the “pastoral eglantine” in the swoony psychedelia of his Ode to a Nightingale.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/08/country-diary-keats-rose-raven">Continue reading...</a>Wild flowersEnvironmentPlantsBirdsScienceWildlifeWed, 08 Jul 2015 04:30:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/08/country-diary-keats-rose-ravenPhotograph: Maria Nunzia/@VarveraPastoral eglantine … the sweet briar rose.Photograph: Maria Nunzia/@VarveraPastoral eglantine … the sweet briar rose.Paul Evans2015-07-08T04:30:01ZLong-distance travellers form a flickering bridge between worldshttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/06/country-diary-wharfedale-swallows-flowers
<p><strong>Wharfedale, North Yorkshire</strong> By the river Wharfe swallows drink on the wing by dipping into the water with a quick splash<br></p><p>My mother, who is more attentive than I am, constantly points out plants as we walk around Grass Wood. This wonderful pocket of limestone woodland is perhaps past its flowering peak, but is still vibrantly colourful: purple thyme, white wild strawberry, pink campion and the tiny blue sparkles of germander speedwell, the flowers of which almost seem to open before my eyes as the sun pulses through the cover of cumulus.</p><p>Where the canopy of ash and birch relents, there are <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/mar/04/weekend7.weekend6" title="">searing yellow constellations</a> of goldilocks buttercups. Near the rippling limestone pavement of Coniston Old Pasture, these constellations coalesce into a galaxy. When the sun falls from its midsummer perch to land on the bone-white rock and these flowers together, the effect is dazzling.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/06/country-diary-wharfedale-swallows-flowers">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentYorkshireBirdsWild flowersRural affairsUK newsWildlifePlantsMon, 06 Jul 2015 04:30:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/06/country-diary-wharfedale-swallows-flowersPhotograph: Carey DaviesThe River Wharfe near Grassington.Photograph: Carey DaviesThe River Wharfe near Grassington.Carey Davies2015-07-06T04:30:03ZThe towpath is alive with the essence of summerhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/29/canal-towpath-flowers-birds-elderflower
<p data-dropid="0"><strong>Wheelock Canal, Cheshire</strong> I see the saucer-sized, creamy-white elderflowers, the essence of summer. Celtic lore has it that fairies will appear to those who stand under an elder tree on Midsummer’s Eve</p><p>The sky is a speedwell blue as I walk along the towpath of the Wheelock canal, which runs parallel to the river Weaver. Bottle-green and crimson narrowboats decorated with pots of geraniums and horseshoes pootle by. There are dandelions bold as brass in the grass. Cow parsley, or Queen Anne’s Lace, frills the bank. Peacock butterflies alight on a purple buddleia growing out of a stone wall flecked with burnt-orange and pale-grey lichen, showing their eye-spots.</p><p>I pass under a bridge and hear the rush of water from the lock; out the other side, an explosion of swallows alternating royal-blue backs and scarlet throats as they skim the water for insects. There is a female mallard, five balls of golden-brown fluff paddling furiously to keep up with her.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/29/canal-towpath-flowers-birds-elderflower">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentRural affairsWildlifeSummerWild flowersUK newsPlantsMon, 29 Jun 2015 04:30:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/29/canal-towpath-flowers-birds-elderflowerPhotograph: Yon Marsh Natural History/AlamyFlorets from the saucer-sized elder flower. Forage now for elderflower cordial, or leave for elderberry wine later.Photograph: Yon Marsh Natural History/AlamyFlorets from the saucer-sized elder flower. Forage now for elderflower cordial, or leave for elderberry wine later.Julie Armstrong2015-06-29T04:30:08ZLate early purple orchid joins the colonyhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/24/country-diary-wenlock-evans-orchids-meadows-summer-solstice
<p><strong>Wenlock Edge, Shropshire:</strong> Spotted and pyramidal orchids created a hazy mood, a spirited innocence, a pinkishness of hope</p><p>I was drawn across the field to a flash of pink: common spotted orchids. They were common for that moment around the summer solstice and I’d spotted them in the place where I’d seen a large colony last year, the soggy bottom of a field of limestone quarry spoil.</p><p>The size and shape of the patch had changed. The most dense group of orchid flowers of last June was now almost gone. The stems were withered and twisted, and some flowers looked singed and were tiny; they appeared to have been in contact with herbicide or killed off by toxins.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/24/country-diary-wenlock-evans-orchids-meadows-summer-solstice">Continue reading...</a>Wild flowersPlantsSummerHerbicidesOzone layerEnvironmentRural affairsScienceWed, 24 Jun 2015 04:29:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/24/country-diary-wenlock-evans-orchids-meadows-summer-solsticePhotograph: Matthew Taylor/AlamyCommon spotted orchids (<em>Dactylorhiza fuchsii</em>) show wide diversity in colour and markings. Photograph: Matthew Taylor/AlamyPhotograph: Matthew Taylor/AlamyCommon spotted orchids (<em>Dactylorhiza fuchsii</em>) show wide diversity in colour and markings. Photograph: Matthew Taylor/AlamyPaul Evans2015-06-24T04:29:01ZCan the cloning saxifrage outwit our herbicides?http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/18/country-diary-gates-teesdale-abbey-meadow-saxifrage-herbicides-clones
<strong>Thorsgill Beck, Teesdale</strong> To 16th century travellers meadow saxifrage would have been unremarkable, today it is a window into a lost landscape<p>Five centuries ago the White Canons, who worshipped in the <a href="http://www.premontre.org/chapter/cat/welcome/who-are-the-premonstratensians/" title="">Premonstratensian</a> abbey, whose ruins sit high above the bend in the Tees at Egglestone, would have been familiar with the view that appeared as we crossed the pack-horse bridge.</p><p>The pasture had buttercups and another flower that I couldn’t immediately identify. It was only when we stood among the densely packed drifts of its white blooms that it dawned on me that this was <a href="http://bsbi.org.uk/Saxifraga_granulata_species_account.pdf" title="">meadow saxifrage</a>, in greater profusion than I had ever seen.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/18/country-diary-gates-teesdale-abbey-meadow-saxifrage-herbicides-clones">Continue reading...</a>Wild flowersPlantsGeneticsBiologyWildlifeEnvironmentRural affairsThu, 18 Jun 2015 04:30:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/18/country-diary-gates-teesdale-abbey-meadow-saxifrage-herbicides-clonesPhotograph: /@Phil GatesThe exquisite meadow saxifrage (<em>Saxifraga granulata</em>) growing at Egglestone, in Teesdale.
Photograph: @Phil GatesPhotograph: /@Phil GatesThe exquisite meadow saxifrage (<em>Saxifraga granulata</em>) growing at Egglestone, in Teesdale.
Photograph: @Phil GatesPhil Gates2015-06-18T04:30:08ZSummer flowers rapidly appearing: Country diary 100 years agohttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/14/country-diary-summer-flowers-1915
<p>Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 18 June 1915</p><p>In a willow-grown marsh, easier than usual to walk through just now, I found the ragged robin abundantly in flower. With its pale pink and untidy, straggling petals it looks a poor relation of the sturdy red campion, which in the dry wood has been long out and new is the most noticeable flower. The ragged robin is a mid-June flower; why should it be called “floscuculi”? There are several “cuckoo flowers,” but the best known is the bittersweet, which in these parts is usually called the May-flower; it comes out when the cuckoo is calling all day-long, but the bird is getting weary when the ragged robin appears. It is true that yesterday I saw a cuckoo apparently flying for its life because an annoyed tree-pipit was chasing it, and that when it outdistanced the little bird it called many times, but the voice of the cuckoo is not the most noticeable bird-note now.</p><p>Summer flowers are rapidly appearing to replace the now seeding blooms of spring. There are open thimbles on a few foxgloves - thimbles of the “little folk” or fairies, - and in another month this tall favourite will line the hedgerows and fill cleared spaces in the woods. There is another very common flower now out, the pink spike of the bistort, known in this district as the “patience dock” and by the farmers “snakeweed,” on account of its trailing roots. <a href="http://caliban.mpipz.mpg.de/gerarde/index.html">Gerarde, the Cheshire herbalist</a>, called it: “passhions” and described it as “an excellent potherbe,” and no doubt, that is the origin of the local name. It was an Easter plant, not because it flowered then, but because its young leaves made a suitable vegetable in spring. It is rather a troublesome plant in pastures, but its flowers and dark green leaves are certainly handsome, if we are capable of seeing beauty in common things.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/14/country-diary-summer-flowers-1915">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentRural affairsWild flowersBirdsPlantsWildlifeSun, 14 Jun 2015 21:30:11 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/14/country-diary-summer-flowers-1915Photograph: Marie-Louise Avery /AlamyTwo flower heads of Bistort Superbum with hoverfly, Kent.Photograph: Marie-Louise Avery /AlamyTwo flower heads of Bistort Superbum with hoverfly, Kent.Thomas Coward2015-06-14T21:30:11ZThe riverbank comes to lifehttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/09/country-diary-riverbank-comes-life
<strong>Waltham Brooks, West Sussex</strong> Slender damselflies are emerging from the vegetation, the thin, pale blue dashes flickering over the flowers<p>The long, languid flowers and sword-like green leaves of flag irises rise up from the boggy ground – ornate yellow and green fountains glowing in the warming sun. The head of each iris consists of three large drooping sepals. These yellow landing platforms are marked with dark lines that invite pollinating insects into their hearts, beneath overhanging petals and stamens, which deposit the pollen on the obliging visitors.</p><p>The air is already humming with insects. A large white-tailed bumble bee, its body dotted with pollen, reverses out of an iris flower, shimmers its wings and moves off in search of another. From two trees either side of the bog, two <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/b/blackcap">blackcaps</a> warble furiously at each other in competition for territory.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/09/country-diary-riverbank-comes-life">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentRural affairsUK newsSummerPlantsInsectsBirdsRiversSnakesTue, 09 Jun 2015 04:30:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/09/country-diary-riverbank-comes-lifePhotograph: Rob Yarham/GuardianA female broad-bodied chaser dragonfly at Waltham Brooks.Photograph: Rob Yarham/GuardianA female broad-bodied chaser dragonfly at Waltham Brooks.Rob Yarham2015-06-09T04:30:04ZHeavenly beliefs fix on oxeye’s gazehttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/03/country-diary-wenlock-shropshire-oxeyes-abbey-cluny-solstice-flycatchers
<strong>Country Diary:</strong> In the ring of the daisy florets lies a golden heart, a solar symbol beckoning to the solstice<p>Flowers in the ruins. Oxeye daisies bring summer from the stones. It hasn’t felt much like summer recently, the cold damp weather seems to have suspended it. But once the fuse is lit the wild flowers blow, come hell or high water.</p><p>The colour pulse throughout the landscape now is white: wild garlic, cow parsley, hawthorn and daisies flash from woodland banks under trees and roadside verges.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/03/country-diary-wenlock-shropshire-oxeyes-abbey-cluny-solstice-flycatchers">Continue reading...</a>PlantsBirdsWildlifeFranceSummerEnvironmentRural affairsWed, 03 Jun 2015 04:29:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/03/country-diary-wenlock-shropshire-oxeyes-abbey-cluny-solstice-flycatchersPhotograph: Maria Nunzia /@VarveraOxeye daisies at Wenlock abbey. The plant was associated with St Barnabas and John the Baptist. Photograph: Maria Nunzia /@VarveraPhotograph: Maria Nunzia /@VarveraOxeye daisies at Wenlock abbey. The plant was associated with St Barnabas and John the Baptist. Photograph: Maria Nunzia /@VarveraPaul Evans2015-06-03T04:29:01ZJumping dog violet slips into boulder’s jawshttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/07/country-diary-gates-teesdale-river-spring-flora-violets
<strong>Eggleston, Teesdale:</strong> The tenacious plant, lodged in a crevice, produced a floral display none of the woodland violets could match<p>When we followed this path beside the river Tees a month ago the first shoots of wood anemones were forcing their way through frosted soil. This morning there were carpets of leaves but almost all their flowers had run to seed.</p><p>There is urgency about woodland flora in spring, a race to bloom and be pollinated before the closing of the tree leaf canopy plunges the ground into shadow. Latecomers to the competition are inventive in their move to claim a niche.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/07/country-diary-gates-teesdale-river-spring-flora-violets">Continue reading...</a>RiversPlantsWildlifeInsectsEnvironmentBiologyThu, 07 May 2015 04:30:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/07/country-diary-gates-teesdale-river-spring-flora-violetsPhotograph: /Phil GatesThe dog violet, above, can cease relying on insects to reproduce and turn to self-pollination. Photograph: Phil GatesPhotograph: /Phil GatesThe dog violet, above, can cease relying on insects to reproduce and turn to self-pollination. Photograph: Phil GatesPhil Gates2015-05-07T04:30:04ZGreen spirits awakening in Mayhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/06/country-diary-shropshire-evans-alkanet-cowslips-woodpecker-raptors
<strong>Wenlock Edge, Shropshire:</strong> Green alkanet is in flower and inside the woods a wet emerald glows from earth to treetop<p>The green alkanet is in flower along the hedge that catches the morning light and gives shelter from the rain. May brings green fire: a lyrical contagion. Thickset, coarse and bristly, green alkanet has the feel of an outsider, pitching up on boundary land, putting down its stubborn roots, which, once, were used to make red dye.</p><p>Green or evergreen alkanet, so called because it will flower into winter, jumped the garden fence back in the 1720s to join the ergasiophygophytes - botanical escapees from captivity making a bid for freedom.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/06/country-diary-shropshire-evans-alkanet-cowslips-woodpecker-raptors">Continue reading...</a>SpringTrees and forestsBirdsButterfliesInsectsPlantsWildlifeEnvironmentRural affairsWed, 06 May 2015 04:30:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/06/country-diary-shropshire-evans-alkanet-cowslips-woodpecker-raptorsPhotograph: Maria Nunzia /@VarveraSheltering near hedgerows, green alkanet springs into bloom flashing its blue petals like an emergency light. Photograph: Maria Nunzia /@VarveraPhotograph: Maria Nunzia /@VarveraSheltering near hedgerows, green alkanet springs into bloom flashing its blue petals like an emergency light. Photograph: Maria Nunzia /@VarveraPaul Evans2015-05-06T04:30:04ZBluebells by the seahttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/29/country-diary-spiers-cornwall-buryan-boskenna-loy
<strong>St Buryan, Cornwall:</strong> Beneath Boskenna oaks shelter the gully of St Loy, where in the shade grow primroses with bluebells and sorrel<p>Beyond the prehistoric standing stones of the Boleigh Pipers and Merry Maidens circle, the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/dec/06/ruralaffairs.comment" title="">church tower of St Buryan </a>dominates the skyline. The bus from Penzance arrives punctually and, in the morning sun, the time of day is clearly shown on the slate sundial above the church porch.</p><p>Within the spacious interior sunlight sparkles on the font of Ludgvan granite and enhances the original colouring on the 16th-century rood beam carved with foliage, birds and other beasts.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/29/country-diary-spiers-cornwall-buryan-boskenna-loy">Continue reading...</a>CornwallCoastlinesWild flowersPlantsTrees and forestsEnvironmentRural affairsWed, 29 Apr 2015 04:30:09 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/29/country-diary-spiers-cornwall-buryan-boskenna-loyPhotograph: Simon Cook/AlamyWoods near the coast at St Loy, Cornwall, shelter clutches of bluebells and ferns. Photograph: Simon Cook/AlamyPhotograph: Simon Cook/AlamyWoods near the coast at St Loy, Cornwall, shelter clutches of bluebells and ferns. Photograph: Simon Cook/AlamyVirginia Spiers2015-04-29T04:30:09ZThe waste land breeding crabshttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/16/country-diary-durham-gates-wasteland-colliery-shore-wildlife
<strong>Dawdon, Durham:</strong> The sea floor had once been smothered in silt, the water so turbid no marine life could be seen<p>The Turning the Tide millennium project has restored this coastline, transforming industrial wasteland into high quality wildlife habitat. This month, primroses and a blaze of gorse blossom are giving a foretaste of the floral display that will grace the cliff-top here over the coming season. Already, leaves of orchids are forcing their way through the turf.</p><p>On the beach, where coal mining waste once created a sterile, nightmarish alien landscape, the transformation is even more heartening for those who remember the condition of the area when Dawdon colliery closed in 1991.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/16/country-diary-durham-gates-wasteland-colliery-shore-wildlife">Continue reading...</a>Marine lifeCoastlinesCoalFossil fuelsPlantsEnvironmentBiologyWildlifeRural affairsUK newsThu, 16 Apr 2015 04:30:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/16/country-diary-durham-gates-wasteland-colliery-shore-wildlifePhotograph: Phil GatesThe shore crab gets crabby as he is held up for close inspection. Photograph: Phil GatesPhotograph: Phil GatesThe shore crab gets crabby as he is held up for close inspection. Photograph: Phil GatesPhil Gates2015-04-16T04:30:07ZChiffchaffs, catkins and celandines bring coastal path to lifehttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/15/country-diary-spiers-cornwall-looe-polperro-cliffs-coast
<strong>Looe, Cornwall:</strong> The cliffs of Hendersick rise above shadowy gullies, ribs of wave-eroded slate and turquoise water<p>Off Hannafore, Looe island is silhouetted against a sparkling sea and surrounded by rocks as the tide recedes. Sunlight filters through trees on the island’s landward side. The summit was the site of a medieval chapel, and here, on the mainland, a hillside of dazzling gorse overlooks the coastal route where people saunter across turf starred with celandines, dandelions, violets and stitchworts.</p><p>Blackthorn foams with blossom, the willows bear fluffy catkins, and wrens and chiffchaffs sound from thickets of honeysuckle and bramble. Ahead, the cliffs of Hendersick rise above shadowy gullies, ribs of wave-eroded slate, and the turquoise water that slurps into sandy inlets. Bladder campion quivers in draughts of warm air and swaths of primroses thrive along the most sheltered parts of path.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/15/country-diary-spiers-cornwall-looe-polperro-cliffs-coast">Continue reading...</a>CoastlinesWildlifeBirdsPlantsEnvironmentRural affairsCornwallUK newsWed, 15 Apr 2015 04:30:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/15/country-diary-spiers-cornwall-looe-polperro-cliffs-coastPhotograph: Tremorvapix/AlamyCliffs adorned with bright gorse flowers at Talland bay near Polperro and Looe. Photograph: Tremorvapix/AlamyPhotograph: Tremorvapix/AlamyCliffs adorned with bright gorse flowers at Talland bay near Polperro and Looe. Photograph: Tremorvapix/AlamyVirginia Spiers2015-04-15T04:30:08ZThe silent way that was once a main roadhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/23/dorset-hollow-way-closed
<p><strong>Melbury Abbas, Dorset</strong> Dinah’s Hollow is an outstanding example of a holloway, carved out by centuries of wear, the tread of feet and horses’ hooves, the furrows made by cartwheels, the rain, and the weight of modern traffic</p><p>It was strange to stand in the middle of the road at Dinah’s Hollow, close to the village of Melbury Abbas, unafraid that a heavy freight wagon heading north from Poole Harbour might at any moment roar around the bend. This was, until the end of the 19th century, the main route south from the historic hill town of Shaftesbury and until last April it was thick with traffic, sometimes blocked when two lorries met. But now it is closed, and there was absolute silence until we heard the cry of a buzzard, which, as we looked up, was wheeling above the nest lodged in a tall Scots pine that climbs from the top of one of the hollow’s steep banks.</p><p>Dinah’s Hollow is one of several hollow ways (or <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/19/holloway-robert-macfarlane-dan-richards-review" title="">holloways</a>) that are a particular feature of the landscape here. They burrow through the rock, called lower greensand, on which Shaftesbury stands high above the low lying Blackmoor Vale. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/20/oliver-rackham" title="">Oliver Rackham</a>’s History of the Countryside describes them as “lanes mysteriously sunk in deep ravines, lined with great trees, their cavernous shade the home of delicate plants like hartstongue fern, shining cranesbill and moschatel”. And Dinah’s Hollow is an outstanding example, carved out by centuries of wear, the tread of feet and horses’ hooves, the furrows made by cartwheels, the rain, and the weight of modern traffic.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/23/dorset-hollow-way-closed">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentRural affairsPlantsUK newsMon, 23 Mar 2015 05:30:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/23/dorset-hollow-way-closedPhotograph: David Hansford PhotographyThe now-closed C13 road at Dinah’s Hollow, Melbury Abbas near Shaftesbury, Dorset.Photograph: David Hansford PhotographyThe now-closed C13 road at Dinah’s Hollow, Melbury Abbas near Shaftesbury, Dorset.John Vallins2015-03-23T05:30:01ZDrawn in by a captivating viewhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/21/new-forest-bog-trees
<p><strong>Crow’s Nest Bottom, New Forest</strong> This is still the season to see birches at their finest, with silver-white trunks catching the sun, set against the tan hues of bracken-draped hillsides</p><p>The New Forest covers a large area. “How do you decide where to go, and what to write about?” I’m asked. Often we know where we are going, but the rest is given by the landscape and the day’s conditions. Today I pause as I set out, decide to turn left and follow my nose.</p><p>A view catches my eye as I head across the north of the forest. Stopping to get a picture, I find myself being drawn down into Crow’s Nest Bottom. The turf along the top looks pretty dry but is deceiving. One step releases a crackling sound as the brittle lichens break up under my weight. The next produces a squelch where the ground is still holding huge quantities of water, days after the latest rain.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/21/new-forest-bog-trees">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentTrees and forestsRural affairsUK newsPlantsSat, 21 Mar 2015 05:30:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/21/new-forest-bog-treesPhotograph: Graham LongSilver birches at Crow’s Nest Bottom, New Forest.Photograph: Graham LongSilver birches at Crow’s Nest Bottom, New Forest.Graham Long2015-03-21T05:30:03ZA floral masterpiecehttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/19/country-diary-phil-gates-sunderland-coltsfoot-pollination-bumblebee
<strong>Country Diary:</strong> The bumblebee’s efforts seemed clumsy compared with the intricacy of the flower exploiting her<p>If you eavesdrop on the conversations of naturalists like as not you’ll hear them trading tales of rarities that they have found. We all do it. In my case I blame the Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers of my youth, which had star ratings for elusive species, an open invitation to search these out and establish boasting rights for having ticked off the rarest.</p><p>There is not much botanical kudos in announcing that you’ve found a ubiquitous, common, species, such as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/09/country-diary-coltsfoot-deserves-respect-1915">coltsfoot</a>.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/19/country-diary-phil-gates-sunderland-coltsfoot-pollination-bumblebee">Continue reading...</a>Wild flowersPlantsBeesInsectsWildlifeCoastlinesEnvironmentRural affairsThu, 19 Mar 2015 05:30:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/19/country-diary-phil-gates-sunderland-coltsfoot-pollination-bumblebeePhotograph: /Phil GatesSunburst-style head of the wild plant coltsfoot. Photograph: Phil GatesPhotograph: /Phil GatesSunburst-style head of the wild plant coltsfoot. Photograph: Phil GatesPhil Gates2015-03-19T05:30:07Z